Around The Sun is REM’s first album since their 2001 studio album Reveal. Throughout 13 songs – on their 13th studio album REM have produced a
pensive, mid-tempo collection of songs that recalls the lushness of their best records from the Eighties like Reckoning, Fables, and Lifes Rich Pageant.

On Sun, REM continues to get studio support from their touring band - guitarist Ken Stringfellow, multi-instrumentalist Scott McCaughey, and drummer Bill Rieflin.

The album opens with the gorgeous “Leaving New York,” and continues to engage on songs like “Wanderlust,” “Boy In The Well,” “I Wanted To Be Wrong,” “Electron Blue,” and “High Speed Train.” The highly anticipated collaboration with Q-Tip of the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest falls short of expectations.